It was a memorable evening. Like I said in my comments for the May 2 masterclass, it seems to me that with regard to explaining ways to access true inspiration, Steve is getting closer and closer to the core of the matter. I've never heard anybody else talk in such a clear way about these things, and it all makes so much sense to me. He even invited some people onstage and helped them "one-on-one" overcome the blocks that they were experiencing, putting special emphasis on developing your inner ear and connecting it to your fingers. If the kind of advice that Steve shared doesn't help you in your musical path, I don't know what else could do. But it's amazing to see how much unconscioulsy conditioned people can get. I mean Steve had to repeat a couple of things before some people finally got the message.

This class was especially great also because for this time, there was a good translator (Stefano Xotta, a great guitar player and very nice guy too), plus Steve decided to tell all the biographical details in Italian (with the help of a transcription), which was enjoyable and funny too at times.

Apart from that, he mainly answered questions from the participants, because after all the true purpose of the class was to be useful/helpful for us rather than talking all the time about Steve Vai. And that's one of the truly great things about Steve, in my honest opinion.I thought of contributing by asking about what kind of thoughts (if any) does Steve allow himself to think when he's improvising on the guitar. It felt to me like a good question for the occasion. Of course the answer was long and detailed, but it really was worth it.

And then there's Steve playing his songs (this time it was Racing the World, Building the Church, Tender Surrender, and Whispering a Prayer), which is the cream because you can simply enjoy it, or you can also learn so much on many levels by watching him perform.

The final jam was good, too. There was a very young kid (probably 10 or so) who was shredding away, Stefano the translator, Massimo from Blue Powder (SV cover band), a boy who only played chords (kind of punk-style, in a way), a couple of other guys, and then a young boy who went up to Steve, kind of grabbed him (at which I thought: "oh my gosh, what is he doing?") and demanded to "play the blues"! Visually, he made me think of Zack Wiesinger and he played great, but to me he didn't sound (or look) like he was paying too much attention to what Steve was playing in his turn. But it was funny to watch him play in a kind of euphoric trance.

For me, the evening was also quite meaningful because I had the chance to meet up and chat with truly good friends and to also get to know other great people. And then it's great to see Fire help out his father, I guess as far as being a great person, the fruit didn't fall too far from the tree, as they say.

Steve, thank you with all my heart for giving us so much. Now get some deserved rest, man!